Senegal: Journalist Sentenced to Prison for Defamation : Nomadic Wax

A
court in the capital, Dakar, handed a prison sentence and heavy damages
against a tabloid director on criminal defamation charges over a story
trumpeting an alleged high-profile corruption scandal, according to
local journalists and news reports.

Ndiogou
Wack Seck of the private, pro-government daily Il Est Midi was
sentenced to six months in prison and ordered to pay damages of 40
million CFA francs (US$41,000), according to the same sources. Seck was
barred from working as a journalist for three months and his paper was
banned from publication for the same period. Neither the journalist nor
a defense lawyer was present in court. Seck is now the target of an
arrest warrant.

"We condemn the continued use of criminal
defamation laws to jail journalists for their work," said CPJ Executive
Director Joel Simon. "We reiterate our appeal to President Abdoulaye
Wade to honor his 2004 pledge to decriminalize defamation."

The
ruling stemmed from a complaint filed by state counsel Ousmane Sèye and
Alex Ndiaye, director of the private station Xew-xew FM and a Wade
supporter, in connection with a November 14, 2006 story, according to
the private daily L’Observateur. The story alleged impropriety by Sèye
and Ndiaye over their roles in the government’s February 2006 release
from prison of embattled former prime minister Idrissa Seck, according
to CPJ research. Idrissa Seck was freed suddenly and without
explanation after seven months in prison on corruption charges,
according to international news reports.

Ndiogou Wack Seck is one of at least three
journalists harassed, prosecuted, or jailed for stories linked to the
ex-prime minister scandal, according to CPJ research. In 2005, police
summoned veteran political commentator Abdou Latif Coulibaly and
several other journalists over alleged ties to Seck. In February 2006,
director Moustapha Sow of the private newspaper L’Office was sentenced
to prison and jailed four months later over a story linked to the
scandal. He was paroled after two weeks in prison.

Senegalese
authorities have continuously used a provision of the Senegalese penal
code to prosecute defamation matters, despite a 2004 presidential
pledge to ban criminal sanctions for press offenses, according to CPJ
research. Last month, two journalists with the private daily Walf
Grand-Place were handed suspended prison terms on defamation charges
over a story on a consumer complaint against a car dealership.

CPJ
is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to
safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.cpj.org

Senegal: Journalist Sentenced to Prison for Defamation

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